


Depression Isn’t Easy

by Stressedtoimpress



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Also who leaves their 16 year old home alone for two weeks, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Neglect, Depression, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I didn’t intend this to be shippy but if you want it to be it can, I don’t know what to tag lmao, I mean he’s not a child anymore he’s sixteen, Light Angst, M/M, Max Swears A Lot, Max refuses to see a doctor, Mental Health Issues, Neil is a good friend, Neil swears a little to, References to Depression, but legally it’s still child neglect, max is depressy, or BF, whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 23:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16274747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stressedtoimpress/pseuds/Stressedtoimpress
Summary: K so basically, it’s 6 years after the events of the series. It’s junior year spring break. His parents had had enough so they left him home alone for the whole two weeks of vacation.Max has tons of freedom, but ends up doing a whole lot of nothing but lying in bed and feeling like garbage—falling in and out of sleep. He ends up sleeping for 17 hours and not checking his phone the entire time.When he finally does he realizes that Neil has been trying to contact him all week and him and Nikki are scared he’s dropped off the face of the earth. Nikki even used her home phone to call him, and she HATES phone calls, not even owning a cell phone herself.Anyways he calls Neil back and Neil being smart realizes that Max probably has depression and comes over to take care of him and force him to get out of bed.





	Depression Isn’t Easy

    Max groaned as he opened his eyes. His body felt heavy and the blanket as crudely strewn over him. He sighed. It was still dark, the window was open and he could hear the crickets chirping outside, the room only being illuminated by moonlight. What time was it? It was still night? Had he really gotten such little sleep? He glanced at the clock across the room but it was too dark and too far away for him to make it out. He sighed again and reached into his bag, rummaging around until he found his phone and checked the time.

   Almost 9:00 PM. That’s when it clicked. He hadn’t gotten little sleep, he had gotten a lot of it. Considering he had fallen asleep at around roughly 4:00 AM, he had slept for _seventeen hours._

Then he suddenly remembered everything in his miserable pathetic life. Right, it’s spring break. His parents are gone for two weeks on separate trips. So far he had done nothing but lie in bed and feel like garbage. Most of the week had been kind of hazy. It was just a blur of lying in bed and sleeping, occasionally getting up to get food. He did the laundry once. That was the most productive thing he had done all week like the worthless piece of shit he was.

    He squinted at his phone screen, trying to read the notifications. It was hard to read due to a combination of darkness, having just woken up, and the cracked screen, not to mention he hadn’t even used his phone all week. Despite his trouble seeing, he was able to make out a fuck ton of missed phone calls and several texts, but he couldn’t tell from who.

    He groaned and sat up, turning on his bedside lamp. He winced at the light at first, flinching to cover his eyes, but his eyes momentarily adjusted and his vision cleared. He looked down at his phone again and he could actually read them. Aside from one unknown caller, they were from Neil. 19 missed calls and four texts. Yikes.

    He read the texts first.

 

Saturday, April 13th

**Hey Max. Nikki and I were wondering if you wanted to hang out over the break, maybe meet up at the mall or something? We don’t go to the same schools so it's hard to see each other, but we’ve got a two whole weeks without school bothering us!**

 

Tuesday,  April 16th

  **I suppose the answer is no. What’s up with you? I called you twice but didn’t answer my calls either. Where are you? If you were anyone else I’d question whether or not you’d lost your phone somewhere, but I know you and you don’t lose things easily. Don’t tell me you’re ignoring me.**

 

Thursday, April 18th

**Max, where are you??! I know you’re not ignoring me because you’ve never ignored anyone for this long before. Are you okay?? Why haven’t you been answering my calls? I’m really worried, Max. So is Nikki, she’d call you too if she had a phone. If you aren’t going to answer we just wanna say we hope you’re safe.**

 

Saturday, April 20th

 

    Max groaned.

_That’s today_

 

     **Max where the fuck are you? We’re so worried about you, it’s like you’ve dropped off the face of the earth!! Why haven’t you been answering my calls??? Answer me goddamit!! I swear to god if you’re dead or something I’m going to kill you. We’ve gotten so desperate to contact you that Nikki’s called you from her home phone. She never does that, she usually just uses facebook messenger on her computer. That’s how scared we are for you. Seriously where the fuck are you? We’re so scared, answer your phone!!!**

 

Nikki called him? Well, that explains the unknown caller. He felt a pang of guilt. God, he was such a shitty friend. He figured it was about time to call Neil back as he probably deserved it after all this. His hands shook as he hovered over the callback button. Why was he having such a hard time calling him? It was just Neil. Maybe he was just tired.

    Or maybe he was scared of how he would react.

    He hit the callback option and the phone rang.

    One ring.

    Two rings.

    Three rings.

    Neil picked up on the other end.

    “Max?” There was a hint of concern in his voice, as well as a lot of relief.

    “Hey.” Max said back before promptly coughing. Fuck, that hurt. His voice came out kind of rough. He hadn’t used it in days

    “Oh my god, Max! You’re alive!”

    “Yep.” He sighed. I’m alive.”

     _Unfortunately._

    “Max, where have you been?! We’ve been trying to reach you all week, Hell, even _Nikki_ called you! Why haven’t you been answering my calls?!” Neil practically yelled into the phone. “Do you know how hard it is to enjoy spring break when one of your friends has appeared to have gone missing!”

    Max felt guilty again. Of course he was preventing his friends from enjoying their break, he fucking sucked like that.

    He kind of wanted to apologize, but he groaned and it came out as “Why the fuck do you care, Neil?”

    Part of it was because he just couldn’t understand why, but part of it was because he didn’t know how to say sorry.

    “Because you’re my fucking friend Max, that’s what friends do. They _care_ about each other, you idiot! Where have you been all week?”

    “Home.”

    “Seriously? Then why haven’t you been answering your phone?!”

    “I don’t know. Lacked motivation I guess. My ringer was off and I just hadn’t checked it all this time.” He rubbed his eyes in exasperation. “Does it really matter?”

    “Yeah, it does! What have you been doing all week that’s caused you to neglect your friends?!”

    “Nothing really. It’s not important, honestly. Nothing's happened. Don’t get your fuckin’ panties in a twist.”

    Neil knew better.

    “Max. What have you been doing the past week?”

    Max didn’t have the energy nor motivation to lie.

    “Lying in bed and doing nothing. Feeling pretty worthless and awaiting death. Sleeping a lot. What about you?”

    “Hanging out with Nikki and trying to contact you. Is that all you’ve been doing? Lying in bed and sleeping all week?”

    “Yeah, pretty much. Why the fuck does it matter? It’s none of your business, Neil.”

    Neil made a frustrated noise. “No it really is, Max. Friends are supposed to care about you and I’m _certain_ that that isn’t healthy. How much have you been sleeping anyways?”

    “A lot. I’ve just been falling in and out of sleep the whole time. I think last time it was like, seventeen hours? I don’t know, I’m just super tired of all this shit, Neil.”

    “ _Seventeen hours?_ Alright I _know_ that that isn’t healthy. What the everloving fuck, Max? Do you know how unhealthy that is?”

    “It’s fine, Neil. I have plenty of time. It’s not like I’m doing anything with my miserable life. Just let me be, Jesus Christ.”

    Once again, Neil knew better. This was the final straw. Sure, Max was a little shit sometimes—scratch that, all the time, but he needed someone to take care of him. He needed help.

    “Max, I think you need to see a doctor about that.”

    “I told you I’m _fine_ Neil. I don’t _need_ to see a fucking doctor, I’m just tired. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, we all just suffer and then die. What’s the point? Life’s always gonna be shitty no matter how much you try and fix it.”

 

    Neil furrowed his brow. _God, does Max really think this way all the time?_

 

    “Max, I’m gonna come over.”

    “Why?” Max asked incredulously.

    “You need to get up, you can’t just lie in bed and sleep your whole life.”

    “Why not? There’s nothing better to do.”

    “Max, I’m gonna come over whether you like it or not.”

    “The door’s locked.”

    “No it’s not.” Neil knew that Max’s parents never locked the door and if Max hadn’t gotten out of bed all week he obviously hadn’t locked it either.

    “Well you got me there. I guess I can’t stop you from coming over but you really don’t need to. I can manage myself, I’m not a fuckin’ child anymore.”

    “You forget I’ve known you for six years. You could manage yourself better when we _were_ children. You aren’t helping your point.”

    “Jesus fuck, Neil, you’re so persistent. It’s not even day time, it’s the middle of the fuckin’ night. You can’t wait until tomorrow?”

    “I’ll be over within the hour.”

    Max groaned and hung up the phone abruptly as Neil furrowed his brow again in frustration. Max really was a little shit. Nevertheless, Max needed someone to make sure he actually takes care of himself, and Neil was probably the one who could do that.

    Sure, Nikki cared about Max a whole lot too, but she just didn’t understand mental health issues. She wouldn’t understand that it’s extremely unhealthy to never get out of bed. She wouldn’t understand how extremely unhealthy it is to sleep for 17 hours. She was super oblivious to everything in this world, the little ball of energy that is herself bouncing around from one thing to the next constantly.

    Neil glanced out the window and saw that it was a rather rainy night. He thought about driving over, but then remembered that his dad was out with friends tonight, and _he_ had the car. He was going to have to walk.

    He sighed, pulled on his raincoat, and put his hood up. He would’ve grabbed an umbrella if his hadn’t broken last winter. He grabbed the keys to lock the door on the way out before remembering he should text his dad, let him know where he was going.

 

**Hey dad, Max needs me to come over, so I’m heading over to his place. I know it’s late but he really needs me to come over and help him with something, even if he doesn’t think he need help. It’s pretty late so I might end up staying the night. I’m going to walk down there, it’s not far. I’ll stay safe, I promise.**

 

    Then of course he thought he should notify Nikki. She had been pretty concerned about him too. He opened Facebook messenger.

 

    **Hey Nik, I heard back from Max. I’m going to his house to check on him.**

 

    Nikki, being Nikki, responded almost immediately.

 

     **u did?!?! is he okay??? hes alive right??!?1!?1!**

 

**Nikki if he weren’t alive would I be referring to him in the present tense?**

 

**what**

 

**Never mind. Yes, he’s alive, but I don’t think he’s okay so I’m going to check on him.**

 

**what do u mean not okay???!1!?!!!??1**

 

**I talked to him and he doesn’t seem well. He should probably see a doctor, he hasn’t gotten out of bed all week. He’s okay physically, but mentally I’m not so sure. I’m gonna go make sure he’s okay.**

 

**so like hes super sad? im pretty sure hes always been rly sad**

 

**Kind of, I have a few theories about him, but it’s definitely It’s more than just being “super sad.” Did you pay attention to the mental health unit in health class?**

 

**no. can u explain it to me?**

 

**Maybe later, Nik, but right now I need to go see if Max is okay. I’ll let you know how it goes.**

 

**Okie dokie!!! Tell him I miss him!!**

 

    He stuffed his phone in his back pocket and sighed. He loved that girl, but she was rather oblivious to the world. He’d have to explain later, for now he just had to go drag Max’s ass out of bed and force him to do something.

    With that, he left his apartment, locked the door behind him, and then headed out. Then he let out an audible sigh when he realized he had no clue where he was going. He had only been to Max’s house once before, and even then he hadn’t gone inside.

    It was a few weeks back when he just waited outside so he could pick Max up and drive him to meet Nikki so they could hang out. Of course he didn’t remember Max’s address.

    He didn’t wanna ask Max for the address again, so he though for a moment before remembering that when he went to pick up Max a few weeks ago, Max had had to send Neil his address. Of course!

    He went into his old text messages with Max and scrolled back a few weeks. It took a minute, but he finally found Max’s address in the old text messages. Score. He put the address into google maps and went on his way.

    It was about a twenty minute walk. The atmosphere of the night was dank and cold, and the rain poured around him. He still hadn’t gotten a response from his dad, but he knew his dad wouldn’t mind—he was a responsible kid. He ducked behind some buildings and down some allies. Max’s house was tucked away deep into the city in kind of a shady place. According to Max it was the only place that his parents could afford. Then again, he’s also said they hardly even work anymore.

    When he got there, he was both glad to see that the place hadn’t changed so it was easy to spot, but also disappointed that nothing had been done to fix it. It was a shoddy one story house, the paint was peeling on the outside and the screen on the living room window was ripped.

    He cautiously approached the house and tried to open the door, but his hand hovered over the doorknob. He felt...scared, in a way, to open the door. What was going on in there? How would Max react.

    Just to be safe, he pulled out his phone and sent max another text.

 

     **Hey, I’m here.**

 

Read April 20th 9:21 PM

 

     _Well at least he knows I’m here._

 

Neil took a deep breath, and opened the door.

    It was dead quiet and pitch black inside, the only light in the house being the little light from the street lamps coming in through the now open door.

    Neil coughed as soon as he stepped inside, being blasted with the smell of cigarette smoke.

    He groaned and ran his hands along the wall until he found the light switch. When the lights clicked on he realized just how shitty Max’s living situation was.

    For starters the kitchen was overflowing with dirty dishes, but it wouldn’t be a big deal if that was the only problem. The house was generally falling apart; one of the cupboard doors was falling off, and there were stains and cigarette burns all over the carpet. The wallpaper was peeling and he had already noticed that it smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. One of the few kitchen lights was flickering.

    He took a deep breath and stepped further inside. Where was Max’s room?

    He turned down into a hallway that oddly contained two bedrooms and no light switch. both doors were closed. There was a 50% chance that he’d open the right door. He decided to skip the gamble and cut to the chase.

    “Hey Max? I’m here. If you stay silent I’m going to blast ‘Kid in a Candy Store’ by JoJo Siwa at full blast. Where are you?”

    He heard a loud groan come from the door to his right. Bullseye.

    He turned the doorknob and carefully pushed the door open into a room of near complete darkness—being illuminated only by the moonlight and faint light coming in from the kitchen. Max lay face down in bed.

    “Fuck,” Max muttered as he rolled over onto his back. “You actually stayed true to your word.”

    “Yeah of course I did.” Neil leaned on the door frame and rolled his eyes. “Now get up.”

    “You’re a fucking idiot Neil.” Max ignored him and rubbed his eyes.

    Neil crossed his arms. “How so?”

    “Only an idiot would actually come over to help their friend who’s been neglecting them for no reason other than they’re a shitty person despite their friend telling them not to. Seriously Neil you’re such a fucking moron.”

    Neil frowned. “So what if I’m an idiot? You still need to get out of bed.”

    “No I don’t.”

    “Yes you do, come on.”

    Neil flicked on the lights and Max covered his eyes, groaning loudly again.

    “Get up.”

    “No.” Max persisted. “Why can’t I just like, die instead?”

    Neil crossed his arms. “Don’t die it’s bad for your health.”

    Neil was hoping that would make Max laugh, but he just groaned again, still refusing to get up.

    Neil started flickering the lights on and off without batting an eye. Max groaned again.

    “Ugh, fine. Jesus Christ Neil you couldn’t even wait till tomorrow?” He sat up. “You had to come over in the middle of the goddamn night?”

    “That’s when you called. You just slept for seventeen hours, it’s not like you need to sleep right now. Now _please_ tell me you’ve been feeding yourself.”

    Max rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ve gotten food a few times of that’s what you’re asking.”

    “A few times? When was the last time you ate?”

    ”I don’t know, I haven’t been keeping track of time. A few days ago maybe?”

    “Get up, you need to eat.”

    “I’m not hungry.”

    “Yes you are. I’m gonna make food and if you aren’t up and dressed in fifteen minutes then I’m gonna play JoJo Siwa songs at full volume.”

    “Ugh you’re killing me here. Fine, I’ll get up and dressed.”

   Neil smiled. “Good.” He turned and exited the room before promptly poking his head back in the doorway again. “By the way, Nikki says she misses you!”

    Max tried to hide it, but he couldn’t help but smile. “Tell her I miss her too.”

    Neil smiled back and left the room again to go make food. Max sure was a shithead, but he wasn't all the bad, and on top of that he was a shithead that needed help. Neil was ready to do that.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t intend for this to be maxneil but it can be if u want it to be


End file.
